That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a every day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of know-how.
Introducing: The Mortality Situation
From the second you’re born, the one factor you could be utterly sure of is that you’ll die. However what if growing older isn’t inevitable, in spite of everything? And if you happen to might gradual, and even flip again the clock, would you?
The newest problem of MIT Expertise Evaluation examines what dying means to us in 2022, digging into why some individuals are nonetheless dedicating their lives to kicking towards it, whereas others are growing their very own coping mechanisms for grief. Right here’s a collection of a few of the new tales within the version, assured to get you fascinated with what comes subsequent.
- My colleague Charlotte wrote a lovely piece about making digital clones of her (dwelling) dad and mom, for a glimpse into what it could possibly be like to speak to the useless. Would you be ready to do the identical to your family members?
- For those who’ve ever puzzled about what occurs to your physique once you donate it to science, surprise no extra.
- Simply because AI could make life-and-death selections, doesn’t essentially imply we should always enable it to.
- Why the impossible-seeming dream of reviving frozen human our bodies utilizing cryonics refuses to die.
- Ought to we imagine in—and even need—immortality?
- In an age when all the things is being recorded, even data has a lifespan.
- Are electrical automobiles actually the answer to the local weather disaster they’re being touted as?
- Expertise was once one thing to get enthusiastic about. When did it grow to be one thing to dread?
Learn the total journal, and if you happen to haven’t already, you’ll be able to subscribe to MIT Expertise Evaluation for as little as $80 a yr.
The most important buying app in America that you simply’ve by no means heard of
There’s a brand new Chinese language e-commerce app that’s quietly however shortly rising. It’s referred to as Temu. And on October 17, it turned essentially the most downloaded buying app in the US, beating off competitors from Amazon, Walmart, and its Chinese language competitor Shein.
In case your rapid response is What? I’ve by no means even heard of Temu!, you’re in good firm. The app stays obscure amongst most individuals, although it marks one other high-profile try by one more Chinese language tech big to attempt its luck within the American e-commerce market. So how did Temu rise to the highest of the iOS App Retailer’s buying chart? Learn the total story.
—Zeyi Yang
Zeyi’s story is from China Report, his new weekly e-newsletter filling you in on all the most recent happenings in China. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Tuesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you at present’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Conspiracy theorists have seized upon Russia’s “soiled bomb” claims
Regardless of there being no proof for its existence. (NYT $)
+ Russia’s presentation on the so-called soiled bomb contained 9/11 footage. (Motherboard)
+ The struggle in Ukraine is dragging us again to a bloodier age. (Economist $)
2 Movie star deepfakes are promoting’s subsequent frontier
The businesses behind them assume the assured consideration is definitely worth the potential authorized repercussions. (WSJ $)
+ Contained in the unusual new world of being a deepfake actor. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
3 Twitter’s most energetic customers are turning their again on it
And its employees aren’t solely certain why. (Reuters)
+ Twitter has been ever madder than normal over the previous week. (Motherboard)
+ Elon Musk is optimistic he can shut his deal by Friday. (Reuters)
+ Why Twitter nonetheless has these horrible Tendencies. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
4 US election officers are swamped with public data requests
It’s all thanks to at least one man in Florida. (Bloomberg $)
5 Local weather activists are suing governments
They declare that authorities’ inaction to guard nature has harmed their constitutional rights. (Hakai Journal)
+ Nature-based options might help to mitigate the local weather disaster’ results. (CNET)
+ Local weather motion is gaining momentum. So are the disasters. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
6 Tech’s unicorns have gotten rarer once more 
Buyers aren’t giving up hope, although. (WP $)
+ Some enterprise capital funds are going after narwhals as an alternative. (Bloomberg $)
7 Sexually transmitted infections are rising within the US
Docs are holding off prescribing a tablet particularly designed to fight them, although. (Vox)
8 The pandemic proved it was doable to conduct good science shortly
Larger transparency round analysis might assist to hold it on. (Wired $)
+ Is a covid and flu “twindemic” on the horizon? (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
9 NASA’s main UFO investigation has begun 
Possibly the reality actually is on the market. (Motherboard)
+ Radiation-resistant micro organism might survive on Mars for thousands and thousands of years. (New Scientist $)
10 Singapore’s politicians are TikTok superstars
Their clips are met with virtually unprecedented positivity. (Remainder of World)
Quote of the day
“It’s not good, it’s not enjoyable.”
—Palmer Luckey, who based Oculus VR, shouldn’t be a fan of Meta’s VR social app Horizon Worlds, Insider stories.
The massive story
That is how AI bias actually occurs—and why it’s so onerous to repair
February 2019
If we would like to have the ability to repair bias in AI, we have to perceive the mechanics of the way it arises within the first place.
We regularly shorthand our rationalization of AI bias by blaming it on biased coaching knowledge, however the actuality is extra nuanced. Bias can creep in lengthy earlier than the information is collected in addition to at many different phases of the deep-learning course of—and could be extremely onerous to repair. Learn the total story.
—Karen Hao
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Animals actually do do the funniest issues (thanks Charlotte!)
+ Males, would you dare to reveal in a backless swimsuit?
+ Properly, this small wood ball rolling down a colossal xylophone in a Japanese forest has made all the things higher.
+ I had no concept a magnified ant face could be such nightmare fodder.
+ Dare you go to this spooky Italian ghost city?
